Psych: The Think Tank
by Freelancer Mississippi
Summary: There is a new killer in Santa Barbara. Can Shawn and the gang find the killer in time? Shules-y goodness!
1. Prologue

Prologue

_**20 years ago…..**_

"Shawn, why are you lying on the roof?" Henry Spencer yelled from the lawn. Shawn was kicked back against the chimney, staring up at the sun.

"A science experiment," Shawn replied monotonously.

"Shawn, you're going to go blind," Henry said, getting out the ladder.

"That's what I'm trying to disprove; the idea that the sun will blind you if you look directly at it for a long time," Shawn continued, not looking up.

Henry climbed up on the roof and stuck 2 fingers in front of Shawn's young face. "How many fingers am I holding up?" he asked.

"Uh… 4?" Shawn replied. He squinted and tilted his head.

"Yeah, that's what I thought," Henry said as he helped Shawn down the ladder. "I'll get some eye drops. You go lie down on the couch. As Henry walked upstairs, Shawn muttered "I hope he doesn't see Gus."

_**10 years ago…..**_

A young Carlton Lassiter walked across the street. It was his first day on the SBPD, and he was meeting his new partner, a supposed genius that just graduated as well. He walked inside the diner and glanced around. A man in the trench coat with long hair and sun glasses glanced up and gestured to him. Lassiter sat down across from the man. He had scars running from his ear to the edges of the sun glasses. A metal-wood cane leaned against the chair. The handle was silver with a dragon's head. All in all, he looked like a Mafia boss.

"Hello," the man said, extending his hand. "I'm Dmitri Juarez."

"Carlton Lassiter," Lassiter said. "If you don't mind me asking, what happened to your eyes?"

"I was stabbed by a rival gang member in the eyes. I decided then I would become the best detective in Atlanta," Dmitri explained. "I was promoted, and sent out here, for my incredible hearing."

"Oh really?" Carlton raised his eyebrow with skepticism.

"I can tell you are impatient by the way you are tapping your feet, I can tell that an elderly woman is paying for her meal because of the tapping of heels, her walker and the cash register clicking within feet of each other, and I can tell that the white Ford pickup that just pulled up has a man, around 42 and probably involved with a military or police commitment, and a younger man, probably a relative but most likely a son and about 20 years old. The man is at least 40 because of his limping footsteps, and the military or police background comes from the faint sound of a gun holster slapping against his hip. The younger man is his son because of his arrogant remarks and his refusal to speak the older man's first name during their argument. He is around 20 because he steps with confidence and an easy going stride." He sipped his coffee and ordered hashbrowns as Lassiter looked around.

An elderly lady was paying at the cash register and she did in fact have a walker. He noticed that he had been subconsciously tapping his foot. He stopped and glanced outside. Sure enough, Detective Henry Spencer's white pickup was parked outside. Henry Spencer was walking in the door, arguing with his ruffian of a son, Shawn Spencer.

_'That kid's going to be trouble.' _Lassiter said to himself. The door buzzer rang again as Lassiter turned around to face Dmitri again. But Dmitri was listening intently. He stood up.

"He has a gun!" Dmitri yelled, pulling his own gun as the man pulled his, but before the man pulled his gun into a position to fire, Dmitri sht. The bullet hit the man right in the gun hand. The man dropped his gun and clutched his hand. Henry strode up to him and cuffed his hands. "That's why I am the best detective in Atlanta," Dmitri said, as he started sipping his coffee as if nothing had ever happened.

_**5 YEARS LATER**_

Dmitri sat across from Shawn Spencer in that same diner. Both men's eyes were closed and Henry sat in a chair branching off from the table. They were going to have a battle of the wits.

"We're going to have a battle of the wits, but you appear unarmed," Shawn said obnoxiously.

"We will see who is the foolish one in a few minutes." Dmitri said simply.

"Ok Confucius, whatever your proverbs say."

"If I had eyes, I'd be rolling 'em."

"Hush both of you. First question," Henry said, eyeing both of them. "How many hats are in this room? Shawn?"

"There are 5 hats. One on the chef, one on the cashier, a wannabe cowboy wearing a ten gallon hat, the one on the Hispanic man in the corner, and the fedora on that shadowy figure in the corner." Shawn responded.

"Now you, Dmitri."

"There are 6 hats. The ones Shawn named, plus the one you put on as soon as we both closed our eyes- well, when Shawn closed his eyes."

"Dmitri is correct." Henry said, a note of surprise echoing through the sentence. He hadn't expected to let anybody know he had a hat on. "Next question: What type of car just pulled up outside? Shawn?

"By the noise it's making, I'd say it's an old Chevrolet LUV pickup truck," Shawn said confidently. He was sure of his answer and knew Dmitri wouldn't guess right. Obviously not, because Shawn was already right.

"Actually, it's not a car at all. It's a Honda Rebel motorcycle." Dmitri said. "I own one."

"Dmitri is once again, correct." Henry said begrudgingly.

At went on like this for a few hours, with Shawn getting some and Dmitri getting some.

"The final question. If I go out the front way, turn right, then turn right again, then go 3 buildings down, where am I"

"Mr. Wei's Chinese takeout." Shawn responded. He was unsure, as he had only driven down that street a few times, the last time being a year ago.

"A construction site. Mr. Wei's was demolished 6 months ago." Dmitri smiled and stood up, fetched his cane, and walked out, leaving Shawn and Henry in utter disbelief.

_**CURRENTLY…..**_

A man steps out of his car into the deserted lot. He calls out "Hello? Anybody here?" He walks a few more steps as several more men stepped out of assorted Lamborghinis and Bentleys. They all stared around in confusion. They recognize each other: Anders Dieter, the Slavian titanium king, Johnny Rockefeller, oil tycoon, Henry Matson, the emperor of Detroit's car industry, Gotham Verdai, the Indian software multimillionaire, and Luciano Machiatta, Santa Barbara's mob boss.

Suddenly, Luciano pitched forward, a stab wound and a curved, long bladed knife sticking out his back. The rest were felled quite quickly.

Gotham was beat over the head with a steel implement.

Matson was garroted with computer cable.

Anders was decapitated with what looked like a sickle.

Johnny looked at the dead bodies in horror. He turned around, and stumbled back. His terrified face was reflected by dark sunglasses. Johnny wasn't going down so easily though. He was trained in Brazilian jujitsu. He went in and grabbed the other man's shoulder. The man laughed. He brought his hand up in a circle and twisted him around . Johnny aimed a kick for the other man's head, but the other man was faster. He collapsed into the kick as he kicked and flattened Johnny to the ground. The other man growled and Johnny's last sight was the flash of a sickle.


	2. Chapter 1: The Case

Chapter 1: The Case

Shawn woke to buzzing of his cell phone. _Gus _lettered the top of the screen. Shawn groaned, picked it up and asked, "What is it Gus? It's not even 9:00 yet. What requires me to be up at 8:59? Did you burn your hair off again? Last time it was potato peels, corn syrup, and nitroglycerin when we were 15 and you wanted to straighten your hair-"

"Shawn, this is important. Meet me at the parking lot outside of the old diner. Got to go, get here soon," said Gus urgently. He hung up. Shawn shook his head, got dressed and ate his breakfast of pudding and Doritos. He jumped on his motorcycle and sped off.

He pulled into the parking lot of the old diner. Squad cars were crowded in the parking lot. Some men in unlabeled Kevlar vests stood around, arguing with the Chief. Shawn saw Gus and walked up to him. "What's up buddy?"

"It's not good Shawn. 4 of the most important business men in the world were murdered here last night. See those guys?"-he pointed to the guys arguing with Chief Vick-"Those are the personal security teams of the 4. 1 more man was found, but nobody has told me his name." Gus explained as Lassiter approached.

"Spencer, Guster! Get out of my crime scene before-" Lassiter started.

"Before what? Before I can solve the crime?" Shawn interrupted.

"Shut up, Spencer and listen. The fifth man killed was Luciano Machiatta." Lassie said.

"Luciano Machiatta? The inventor of the Sicilian pizza?" Shawn guessed.

"_No, _Shawn, Luciano Machiatta is Santa Barbara's Mafia Boss. He was just released from a 10 year prison sentence on CIA orders," Gus explained, clearly annoyed.

"Yes, Guster, him. In fact, I was a rookie when his arrest happened. But back to this case. There are no traceable elements," Lassiter said as Shawn glanced around. He couldn't pick up _anything. _Chief Vick strolled over, looking flustered.

"Shawn, you need to help on this case," she said, looking desperate.

"Sorry Chief, can't pick anything up right now. Except for Japadogs," said Shawn inconclusively.

"Well Woody, tell us about Mr. Machiatta here," Juliet said.

"Ah yes, Machiatta, the founder of the Italian sports car company," said Shawn in a fake Italian accent.

"Not even close, Shawn," Gus said, who looked like he was holding down his Jamaican jerk chicken.

"Well, as you can see, he's been stabbed. The downward angle of the wound would imply he was stabbed from behind. However, he also has a deeper wound than a regular stab, so I'd say that he was killed with a throwing knife," explained Woody. He gestured to the next body. "This is Anders Dieter, the titanium king. Actually most of the things in here was made by Dieter Co. So this one is most obvious; his head is gone. He also liked to ride horses; don't ask," he said when greeted by surprised faces.

"I guess that makes him the Headless Horseman!" Shawn said excitedly.

"So anyways, it seems he was easily decapitated with an extremely sharp instrument. The cut is so clean."

"Can you lift any prints off of the head?" Lassie asked.

"No unfortunately; we cannot. It seems the assailant didn't touch him," Woody said disappointed. "Here's Matson, the car CEO. He met his end because of a garrote wire," said Woody, having moved onto the next body.

"Could you pick up anything from this body?" Lassie said, looking doubtful and desperate.

"Yes, in fact. Copper shavings were found in the cut. We've identified it as a computer wire from a computer. A Super V laptop," said Woody.

"Wait a Super V? Isn't that a computer made by Verdai Industries?" Gus asked. When he got looks of mixed curiosity and humor, he added "What? I just bought one."

"Yes. Interesting, considering the fact that he was found dead next to the body of Gotham Verdai, the founder of Verdai Industries. He," Woody replied as he moved to the next gurney, which had the body of Verdai on it, "was actually bludgeoned to death. Titanium slivers were found in the head wound. It was probably made by-"

"Dieter Co., right?" Jules guessed. They all looked at each other, creeped out by this trend.

"Now this one, Johnny, is the most interesting. He seemed to have put up a fight. He was trained in Brazilian Ju-Jitsu, according to his file. See these bruises," he said, gesturing to the bruises on his back. "These are impact bruises, implicating that he was thrown or fell on his back. He also has bruises of his wrists, which shows he probably used a grab but had his grab reversed somehow. His throat was slit, probably by the same weapon used to decapitate Dieter. Pretty gruesome, huh," Woody said.

"Thanks Woody," said Jules. They headed up. Jules took Shawn aside.

"Shawn," she started.

"Yes, honey," he said to his girlfriend.

"Do you think this has anything to do with Ewan?" Jules asked plainly. Shawn was surprised.

"No! He was way too awesome to use close combat weapons," Shawn said. He liked Ewan. Ewan was cool with him. None of these men were targets of the U.S Department of Defense. It wouldn't add up.

"Ok, just making sure," Jules said. As they proceeded up to the conference room, Gus fell back to find them.

"Hey, Chief Vick and your father need help on something," Gus said. They hurried up the stairs and entered the conference room. Henry was pouring over a list. Chief Vick gestured for them to sit down.

"Henry and I have decided to do something. Something new," Chief Vick started with a note of anxiety in her voice.

"What? What is it?" Shawn asked excitedly.

"We are going to assemble a think tank."

**[A/N: In honor of Shawn, I have slipped in a reference to a TV show or movie in every chapter. If you can identify the reference here, I'll mention you in the next chapter! Happy hunting!]**

**[Hint: it's in the beginning and it has to do with Gus and a sitcom from the 80's.]**


End file.
